I'm sure most of you have seen it, but it's one of those items that makes it clear how much gun nuts have moved past shrugging off mass murder and are circling ever close to celebrating it.
A school board member finally stepped down Tuesday after his plan to hand out free ammunition to honor victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre misfired.Gregory Beck drew calls for his resignation almost immediately following his election in November to the Brookfield, Connecticut, school board after making a post about his plan in a Facebook comment.
Beck made the comment Nov. 19 in reference to a Newtown Patch post asking readers to observe the anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary by practicing “26 Days of Kindness” to recognize each victim.
Brookfield is adjacent to Newtown, where 26 people — including 20 children — were shot to death by a 20-year-old who had previously fatally shot his mother and later turned the gun on himself.
“I shall buy my friends who are gun enthusiasts a box of ammunition on days 1-26,” Beck posted.
"Honoring" murder victims by giving gifts of the very objects that took their lives sounds suspiciously like celebrating their murders. I imagine Beck would protest and say he doesn't think of it that way, of course. But, if he really had the courage of his convictions, he would "honor" each murder victim by creating a customized box of ammo to honor each separate victim. Put their name on the outside of the box, and inside, carefully count out the number of bullets to correspond with the number of bullet holes found in each individual victim's body.
Beck's unwillingness to take his nifty little idea to its logical conclusion suggests to me that he knew on some level it was wrong. I'm glad he's resigning, but I'm guessing he still hasn't grappled with how sinister a person he's become because of this obsession with guns.
